A RUISLIP man and a health worker are in training for a charity walk along the Thames after suffering a heart attack.

Neil Ransley is completing the Thames Path Challenge with Shriti Raichura, who runs a cardiac rehabilitation exercise class for Mr Ransley and others who have suffered heart problems, at Highgrove Swimming Pool in Hume Way, Eastcote.

The challenge is a whopping 100km walk and takes place over just 24 hours, starting at Putney Bridge, following the Thames Path National Trail, and finishing at Henley-on-Thames.

The charity walkers have been training twice a week by walking from Rickmansworth and ending up along the Grand Union Canal in Uxbridge in preparation for the charity walk, which takes place on September 29.

Miss Raichura said: “I’ve been saying for a while I wanted to do a walk, and Neil said, he’d love to do it as well.”

Mr Ransley, 58, had a heart attack in August 2010. At Harefield Hospital he began the initial stages of his rehabilitation.

He said the “very good” care he received in hospital was equalled by Miss Raichura’s exercise class he joined in November of that year.

Since training for the walk started in June, Mr Ransley says he has lost weight and feels fitter than ever.

“The first time I walked six miles, I think I was in the bath afterwards for about an hour. I did too much too fast and I just thought: ‘Oh dear I'll never do this’.

“But I go out now and I feel much better. You suffer from blisters and things but you just learn to adapt. It's funny how the body just loosens up."

He was a keen walker before his heart attack and has even completed the London Marathon in the past.

The fundraisers are collecting for The Stroke Association, as stroke rehabilitation is very similar to the rehab that Miss Raichura and Mr Ransley are involved with.

Both of his parents have suffered from strokes, and so it was a charity he was keen to support.